Mark has recently joined Taft to serve as Director of Spiritual Life and instruct courses in the areas of philosophy and religion. He spent the previous eleven years as Chaplain and Grace Palmer Johnston chair of Bible at the Stony Brook School on Long Island, New York, where he instructed the senior capstone course Faith and Culture in the 21st Century. During his tenure at Stony Brook Mark received two teaching awards for his work in the classroom, and he strengthened the school’s international service program.

Prior to Stony Brook, Mark served as a tenured professor of philosophy and religion and program director of philosophy at the University of West Georgia. There he developed a scholarly program and international reputation for his work on the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, presenting at conferences in the United States and Europe and publishing two books and several journal articles.

Mark earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Baylor University and holds two graduate degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. Throughout his career his greatest passion has been challenging students to explore and articulate their own understanding of life’s biggest questions, using primary texts from philosophy and religion as the starting point of inquiry. Mark lives on campus with his wife Amy, their son Declan ’30, and their dog, Mr. Bingley. Mark’s daughter Adelaide studies at Wheaton College.